A SHORT HISTORY OF THE OCOEE SECESSION MOVEMENT, SO FAR

U.S. JOURNAL: OCOEE, FLA., about the call for secession by the town of Ocoee from the county which surrounds it, Orange County. In Orlando, Orange's County Seat, mention of the name Ocoee is apt to induce derisive comments about an unreconstructed, ingrown, narrow-minded place where bull-headedness is widely admired and some people remember when there were signs warning black people not to be caught within the city limits after sundown. But the residents of Ocoee paid $325,000 in taxes to Orange County last year, aside from school taxes, and they don't see that they have gotten anything back for it. The county had not even paved Bowness Road, even though Ocoee had been requesting that for years. And so at a recent meeting of the city commission the possibility of secession was raised by city manager John Vignetti. Ocoee is not the backwater it once was. Racism may still be prevalent, but the population has grow significantly in the past ten years, and it provides good services to its residents, many of whom are quite well-off. Many people outside of Ocoee, including County Administrator James Harris, are sympathetic to the town's grievances although not supportive of actual secession. The call for secession, has, however, elicited greater responsiveness from the County, which has promised to help pave Bowness Road. But for now, at least, Ocoee's commissioners are going ahead with the legal procedures required for secession.